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First post, by dinth

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Hi. Im planning to use my new Libretto 100ct as DOS/Windows95-98 gaming laptop.
I have upgraded the harddrive with a NGFF to IDE adapter holiding a 128GB drive (119.25 GiB reported on Linux - so below the 124GB limit of Windows98).
I have partitioned it: 8gb for system partition, 1gb gap (for hibernation - following this https://groups.google.com/g/comp.sys.laptops/ … iFt3fhYQs?pli=1) and the remaining space for data partition.
The only boot disk i've got is a Windows ME (DOS 8.0) floppy, which i use to boot the laptop from.
After booting the computer from a floppy i immediately see both partitions at full capacity. Windows 98SE installation is successful, but unfortunately, after the installation, the computer fails to boot from the harddrive - the computer gets stuck on black screen with a blinking cursor in top left corner.
I have repeated the same with different Windows 98SE iso and a single, 4GB partition on the drive and unfortunately get the same results.
I have tried building a Win98SE boot disk from within Win98SE setup, but those floppies dont work either - the computer restarts on its own, even without the harddrive inserted.
What am i doing wrong?

Reply 1 of 3, by dinth

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Just a quick update - i have installed Win98SE on the original (2gb) drive which came with this laptop - previously it had Windows ME and was working fine - and the laptop still fails to boot from that drive. So the issue has nothing to do with the large drive - unfortunately i cannot edit the topic.
This being said, Windows 98 is supported on this laptop and i have found multiple sources confirming that ppl were able to install Windows 98 on it.
The fact that MSDOS 7.1 startup disk generated by Win98SE installer doesnt boot on this laptop and MSDOS 8.0 startup disk (generated in Win ME) works fine might be connected.

Reply 2 of 3, by ragefury32

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Hm...That Libretto 100CT is, what, an Intel 430TX based machine?
Okay, do you have any other retro machines around the 486 to P3 era, preferably running Win95/98 or even DOS?
What I recommend you do is pop that 128GB SSD into one of those machines (with the uSATA to IDE40/44 adapter) and then format it for bootable DOS 6.22 or as a Win95/98 bootdisk (having a Gotek helps here) - format d: /s and etc....
Once you get that working as a bootable DOS disk swap it back into the Libretto and see if it boots. If it boots, then copy the Win98 directory off a typical Win98 ISO, and just kick off setup.exe from within. That's how I got Win98 installed and working on a rather similar ThinkPad 560E.

Oh, and this guy has a modern guide to getting a Libretto 100CT working -> https://georgeharito.com/2020/09/introducing- … libretto-100ct/